Sunglasses for mitigating bright light and glare are well known. Sunglasses are frequently worn by people who are engaging in outdoor sports activities. For example, snow skiers, bicyclists, and boaters frequently wear sunglasses.
Glare frequently interferes with sports enthusiasts' ability to perform. Glare is particularly problematic in water sports activities, where sunlight is commonly reflected off of the water and into a person's eyes. Glare not only inhibits desired performance, but may also contribute to accidents, such as when it prevents a person from seeing adequately. It is easy to appreciate the importance of seeing nearby swimmers when boating, for example.
It can also be desirable to wear sunglasses so as to mitigate the health risks associated with overexposure of the eyes to sunlight, particularly the ultraviolet (UV) component thereof. It is well known that overexposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun can cause or exacerbate cataracts, for example.
However, although contemporary sunglasses have proven generally suitable for their intended purposes, they possess inherent deficiencies that detract from their overall effectiveness and desirability. For example, the use of sunglasses in water sports activities presents problems with their potential loss if they inadvertently come off of the wearer. This is particularly true if the sunglasses sink into the water.
The potential loss of sunglasses during water sports activities is troublesome because sunglasses can be expensive and because participation in water sports activities such as surfing, windsurfing, and water skiing provides ample opportunity for the sunglasses to be knocked off of the wearer. The loss of sunglasses during any sporting activity can be especially troublesome if they are prescription sunglasses and cannot be immediately replaced.
In an attempt to mitigate the problem of having sunglasses inadvertently come off during water sports activities, companies such as Croakies of Jackson Hole, Wyo. have developed straps which attach to sunglasses and which, to some degree, secure the sunglasses to a wearer and help prevent their loss.
Croakies also provides a product having a buoyant strap, so that the sunglass will float if they do inadvertently come off of a wearer during a water sports activity. This way, the sunglasses can generally be easily recovered.
However, such contemporary straps, even if buoyant, do not always prevent the loss of sunglass that inadvertently come off during a water sports activity. Sometimes, the wearer may travel a considerable distance after the sunglasses come off, thus making finding them difficult even if they are floating.
It is easy to appreciate that by the time a surfer, water skier or boater manages to come to a stop after losing a pair of sunglasses while traveling fast on the water, that person may be far from the location where the sunglasses were lost. Indeed, the wearer may not even be able to pinpoint the location where the sunglasses were lost. Therefore, sometimes the sunglasses cannot be retrieved even if they are attached to a floating strap.
Because they may easily become lost, sunglasses are not worn by water sports enthusiasts as frequently as they may desire. Thus, water sports enthusiasts may sometimes undesirably forego the benefits of wearing sunglasses.
Another problem associated with the wearing of contemporary sunglasses, at least when the sunglasses are attached to the user with a strap, is that the sunglasses, the strap, or some associated item, could get caught on something that could endanger the safety of the wearer.
For example, the sunglasses could get caught on underwater coral. If the wearer could not quickly get free, then the wearer's safety could be seriously jeopardized. That is, the wearer could drown if the wearer could not get to the surface promptly.
As such, although the prior art has recognized, to a limited extent, the problem of losing sunglasses during water sports and similar activities and the problem of facilitating quick detachment of the sunglasses if the get caught, the proposed solutions have, to date, been ineffective in providing a satisfactory remedy. Therefore, it is desirable to provide glasses, such as sunglasses, which are not likely to be lost during sports activities and which can easily be detached from a wearer if the sunglasses or some item attached to the sunglasses (such as a strap or leash) gets caught.